Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked one of the first Republican bills for immigration reform since presidential candidate Mitt Romney lost the election in part because of weak Latino support.

The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM Jobs Act, would increase visas for foreign students who graduated from an American institution with advanced degrees in those fields. The House bill was sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 14: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) (L), speaks to the media while flanked by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), on November 14, 2012 in Washington, DC. The Senators spoke briefly to reporters after attending a policy luncheon. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

“The President and Senate Democrats need to join with us to get this small piece of immigration reform done now,” Smith said in a statement. “Unfortunately, President Obama and Senate Democrats seem to value their partisan agenda more than job creation and economic growth.”

House Democrats originally voted down the bill because the additional 55,000 visas a year would be taken from the diversity visa lottery, which provides visas to countries with low immigration rates. The bill passed in the House with some Democratic support after Smith tacked on a provision to allow families of legal immigrants to wait in the United States while their own visas are processed.

Another Texan, Sen. John Cornyn, R-San Antonio, took up the bill in the Senate and urged support from both sides of the aisle.

“We all know that America’s immigration system is broken, but in particular by driving away highly skilled foreign workers who want to start businesses and create jobs right here in America,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor. “We are cultivating human capital and then sending those individuals back home. Now, this is an area where there is broad, broad support.”

Both parties have expressed support for opening immigration to more immigrants with advanced degrees in STEM fields but partisan tension surrounding the diversity lottery ground chances of compromise to a halt.

Despite Cornyn’s efforts and Smith’s addition, Senate Democrats still weren’t sold on the bill.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., countered the legislation with his own Benefits to Research and American Innovation through Nationality Statutes Act of 2012, or BRAINS Act. The bill is similar to Smith’s but does not cut the diversity lottery.

From Texas Democrats including Reps. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, to the president, the bill has garnered substantial resistance from Democrats. With only a few weeks remaining in the lame duck session, the blow to the STEM Jobs Act signal chances for immigration reform, however small, in the 112th Congress are slim to none. Now immigration reform advocates must wait for new congressmen to take up the issue, whether in pieces or comprehensively.

“The administration does not support narrowly tailored proposals that do not meet the president’s long-term objectives with respect to comprehensive immigration reform,” the White House declared in a statement. “The administration is encouraged that the Congress appears to be ready to begin serious debate on the need to fix our broken immigration system and looks forward to working with both Democrats and Republicans to enact a common-sense approach that includes reforms to the legal immigration system.”